The Labor Feet Published using HitRSS.com]]> http://www.sojwj.org http://www.sojwj.org Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:52:54 GMT HittRSS FREE RSS Feed Publishing Service at http://HitRSS.com http://www.hitrss.com/logo/hitrss.png Powered by HitRSS.com FREE RSS Publishing Service http://www.HitRSS.com 144 31 en-us Jason Houk A single-payer health care system would work for Oregon http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat/d5888b97-a-single-payer-health-care-system-would-work-for-oregon By Samuel Metz
The Oregonian March 29, 2011


Am I crazy, a physician embracing legislative efforts to create a single-payer health care system in Oregon? You be the judge.

It would create thousands of jobs. It would provide health care to people whether they work full time, part time or are retired,
disabled, sick or unemployed. It would stimulate Oregon business. It would reduce our state deficit. And it would provide comprehensive
care to every Oregonian without spending more than we do now.

Where would the money come from? Oregon businesses and families already spend this money. But Oregon wastes $4 billion annually in
private insurance administration. That's premium money that never goes toward health care. Half is the insurance company overhead. The rest
is what hospitals and providers like me waste collecting payments from insurance companies. Princeton economics professor Uwe Reinhardt,
speaking recently before the Senate Finance Committee, said of Duke University's 900-bed hospital: "We have 900 billing clerks at Duke. I'm not sure we have a nurse per bed, but we have a billing clerk per
bed. It's obscene."

For physicians, it's no easier. A Chicago doctor faces as many as 17,000 different sets of benefits for her patients. Your physician in
Oregon might deal with only 300. But that's still a lot of paperwork that doesn't provide health care.

Single payer would eliminate these administrative losses. Diverting $4 billion to real health care is more than enough to enable
comprehensive, no-deductible, no-co-pay, all-medications-included health care to every Oregonian, young and old.

So why doesn't everybody embrace single-payer financing? It's a stark answer: The money is re-labeled as "taxes." And unfortunately many
voters who unknowingly pay thousands of dollars in premiums and out-of-pocket payments refuse to pay a penny of it as a tax, even when this
tax would buy them more health care at less cost and protect their
families from medical bankruptcy.

Other objections are mere distractions. Single payer will destroy jobs? No evidence. Single-payer studies in 14 other states suggest
35,000 new jobs in Oregon. That's 12,000 more than the entire Oregon insurance industry. And because these new jobs are highly paid medical
personnel, they generate $500 million in new tax revenues.

Will businesses flee Oregon? Single payer would eliminate labor disputes over health care benefits. It would halve the cost of human
resource departments (no health benefit management). Entrepreneurs would be free to create new businesses without fear of losing health
care. Business would flourish.

Worried about our state deficit? Single payer would reduce government costs to provide comprehensive benefits to state employees. Couple
this with increased tax revenue and the budget deficit would go down.

A new single-payer health care bill -- House Bill 3510 and Senate Bill 888 -- would be a win for all Oregon. Families finally would get
the health care they need. Workers would enjoy thousands of new jobs. Employer costs would go down. And so would our state government's
deficit.

Single-payer health care: It's not crazy. It's good for Oregon, good for you and good for your legislators. Tell them now.

Samuel Metz is a Portland physician.

Published using FREE HitRSS]]> Mon, 04 Apr 2011 06:10:00 GMT http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat#rss15 Pushing Back Against Economic Crisis, Youth Unrest Ripples Around World http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6901/pushing_back_against_economic_crisis_youth_unrest_ripples_around_the_w/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter Published using FREE HitRSS]]> Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:25:00 GMT http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat#rss14 When Free Speech Isn't Really Free http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat/af2e8589-when-free-speech-isn\t-really-free Since 9/11, law enforcement agencies across America have continued to monitor and
harass groups and individuals for doing little more than peacefully exercising their
First Amendment rights.

Virginia Cody -- a retired Air Force officer and anti-drilling activist -- was
shocked to mistakenly receive a bulletin from the Pennsylvania Homeland Security
Director describing the monitoring of several anti-drilling groups. The bulletin
revealed that Virginia and other anti-drilling activists who were peacefully
exercising their First Amendment rights were included in state "anti-terrorism"
reports.

Unfortunately, Virgina's story is not unique. Last year, the ACLU released a report
that revealed that these kinds of law enforcement behaviors -- monitoring,
infiltrating and spying -- have taken place in at least 33 states plus the District
of Columbia in recent years. This means countless Americans have been put under
surveillance or harassed by the police just for deciding to organize, march,
protest, espouse controversial viewpoints, or engage in normal, innocuous behaviors
such as writing notes or taking photographs in public.

Take action: Oppose reauthorization of parts of the PATRIOT Act that allow
domestic spying.
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=x82j0OfULrM-2j7icoqApw..

Watch the video: Domestic Spying Victim: Virginia Cody
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=RMn1X8rM3MMOwkc9XcMNBA..

Learn more about who's watching you.
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=-u_GZ74i2zgrYJMUDn4LmA..


Published using FREE HitRSS]]> Fri, 21 Jan 2011 23:40:00 GMT http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat#rss13 Cambodia: Garment Workers Sacked for Striking http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent-actions/cambodia-wages Published using FREE HitRSS]]> Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:00:00 GMT http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat#rss12 Trade Unionists & Activists Rally Against Korea US Free Trade Agreement KORA http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/01/15/18669302.php Published using FREE HitRSS]]> Tue, 18 Jan 2011 21:45:00 GMT http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat#rss11 Top 10 Reasons People Lose Their Homes to Foreclosure http://blog.doorfly.com/articles/2011/top-10-reasons-people-lose-their-homes-to-foreclosure/ Published using FREE HitRSS]]> Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:05:00 GMT http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat#rss10 Banks Stole Over 1 Million U.S. homes in 2010 http://theintelhub.com/2011/01/13/u-s-banks-stole-over-1-million-homes-in-2010/ Published using FREE HitRSS]]> Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:00:00 GMT http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat#rss9 Strained States Turning to Laws to Curb Labor Unions http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/business/04labor.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&emc=eta1http://nyti.ms/fMi4k4 Published using FREE HitRSS]]> Wed, 05 Jan 2011 00:45:00 GMT http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat#rss8 Minimum Wages Increase in Seven States http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/newswire/2011/1/3/minimum_wages_increase_in_seven_states.htm Published using FREE HitRSS]]> Mon, 03 Jan 2011 22:40:00 GMT http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat#rss7 Poll: Tax the rich to balance the budget http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat/e1bd8317-poll:-tax-the-rich-to-balance-the-budget- Most Americans think the United States should raise taxes for the rich to balance the budget, according to a 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll released on Monday.

President Barack Obama last month signed into law a two-year extension of Bush-era tax cuts for millions of Americans, including the wealthiest, in a compromise with Republicans.

Republicans, who this week take control of the House of Representatives, want to extend all Bush-era tax cuts "permanently" for the middle class and wealthier Americans. They are also demanding spending cuts to curb the $1.3 trillion deficit.

Sixty-one percent of Americans polled would rather see taxes for the wealthy increased as a first step to tackling the deficit, the poll showed.

The next most popular way -- chosen by 20 percent -- was to cut defense spending.

Four percent would cut the Medicare government health insurance program for the elderly, and 3 percent would cut the Social Security retirement program, the poll showed.

Asked which part of the world they would fix first, the largest proportion of respondents -- 36 percent -- chose Washington, compared with 23 percent who picked the Middle East and 14 percent who chose Haiti.

The poll included a random sample of 1,067 adults across the United States from Nov. 29 to Dec. 2. The margin of error may be plus or minus 3 percentage points, 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair said.


Published using FREE HitRSS]]> Mon, 03 Jan 2011 22:35:00 GMT http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat#rss6 AFL, breaking with UAW, opposes trade deal http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1210/AFL_breaking_with_UAW_opposes_trade_deal.html Published using FREE HitRSS]]> Tue, 14 Dec 2010 17:05:00 GMT http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat#rss5 The Rich Get Rich and the Poor Get Poorer Hunger and Homelessness in America http://uruknet.com/?p=m72298&hd=&size=1&l=e Published using FREE HitRSS]]> Mon, 29 Nov 2010 18:05:00 GMT http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat#rss4 Sacrificing Workers to Save the Rich http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22149 Published using FREE HitRSS]]> Mon, 29 Nov 2010 18:05:00 GMT http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat#rss3 Child Labor in America 1908-1912 http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/ Published using FREE HitRSS]]> Sat, 20 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat#rss2 No Justice, No Free Trade with Colombia http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat/c2ea7c30-no-justice,-no-free-trade-with-colombia Over the past 24 years, more than 2,800 trade union members have been killed in
Colombia. But the government's efforts to find and convict the killers are nothing
but a public relations spin to convince the United States to sign the U.S.-Colombia
Free Trade Agreement, Colombian union leaders said yesterday at the AFL-CIO.

Published using FREE HitRSS]]> Mon, 15 Nov 2010 21:30:00 GMT http://blogs.hitrss.com/LaborBeat#rss1